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TIKRIT, Iraq, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Tuesday retook control of seven villages around the town of Shirqat in Salahudin province as part of their operation launched earlier in the day to drive out the Islamic State (IS) militants from the town, provincial security sources said.
The troops and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal advanced in the early hours of the day from north of Shirqat, which located some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and managed to free the villages of Jirnaf, Eitha, Ba'ajah, Khanouga and Jmesah and are ready to enter the village of Houriyah on the northern edge of Shirqat, the source from Salahudin Operations Command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"Houriyah village is only five kilometers away from the town's local government compound," the source said.
The troops also advanced from another direction and freed the village of Jumaila, just west of Shirqat, while more troops recaptured a residential complex on the southwestern edge of the town, the source added.
"The resistance of Daesh (IS) terrorists is very weak, they mainly depend on snipers and roadside bombs planted earlier by the militants to hamper the progress of our troops," the source said.
Meanwhile, Iraqi and the U.S.-led coalition aircraft conducted heavy airstrikes on te IS positions in and near the town, which lies on the western bank of Tigris River, and destroyed at least three boats in the river and killed all the militants aboard, he added.
"So far only one soldier was killed and three others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their vehicle, while at least seven bodies of the IS terrorists were found during the troops' advance," the source said.
Earlier in the day, a military source said the security forces and allied Sunni paramilitary tribal fighters launched at dawn an operation to free Shirqat and advanced toward the town from three directions heavy artillery and mortar barrage.
The liberation of the town, which is the last one under the IS control in Salahudin province, is part of a major offensive to liberate the major IS stronghold in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh.
Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is the second largest city in Iraq. It has been under the IS control for more than two years since the extremist group took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.
Also in the day, a military source from Iraq's western province of Anbar told Xinhua that the security forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters launched another offensive to free sprawling agricultural area of Jazirat Haditha near the town of Haditha, some 200 km northwest of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, and the nearby rural area of Jazirat al-Baghdadi, from IS militants.
During the day, the troops fought sporadic clashes with the IS militants and cleared large areas from in their advance, leaving many extremist militants killed and many others fled the scene, the source said without giving further details.
The operation in the province came as the Iraqi security forces and allied units are fighting to drive IS militants out of the province after they reclaimed key cities and towns, including the provincial capital of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, the source said.
The reports of the provincial security sources came hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launching of the operations in the two provinces, in a televised message from New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly.
Iraqi security forces and allied units have been battling IS militants for retaking large territories in northern and western Iraq that was seized by the IS since June 2014.
